2008 in Review

With a new year upon us, it's always nice to stop and reflect on the past year and the highs and lows that it brought.  For my family, there was quite a mixture.  

January saw quite a few unfortunate events for the family.  My sister slipped on ice and fell, breaking three bones in her ankle.  This required surgery and many months of recovery as well as faith that everything would be okay.  At the time of the accident, she was unemployed and therefore uninsured.  It was certainly a frightening time, but one that brought us all a little closer.  That same month, my dad was in a terrible car accident.  He found himself in an icy road situation and rolled his truck.  The jaws of life had to be used to remove him from his truck.  When we finally were able to see pictures of the accident, they were very humbling.  Let's just say, we're very fortunate to still have my dad with us and for him to have no serious injuries.  My dad is 6' tall.  When he was standing next to his truck, he was taller than it.  That's how squished it had become.

February was a great month for Jeremy and I.  It was the beginning of February when we found out we were expecting.  What an exciting bit of news that was, but also a scary time as we also found out that I had some low hormone levels and would have to take some extra measures in order to keep the baby growing and developing.  Because of this, we made the decision not to tell our families until we were into the safety zone.  That meant keeping our secret until the end of March, when we would share our news during the Easter holiday.

March brought with it some fun times.  I was able to spend a weekend with my sister, Heike, and her two children.  While with them, I attended the annual Michigan Reading Association conference, which was a great time of learning and buying children's books, my favorite thing in the world!  Like I mentioned earlier, in March, we finally reached 12 weeks of pregnancy and could share with our families that we were becoming a family of three.  Needless to say, all parties involved were very excited.

April brought with it our first trip to see the Detroit Tigers play.  We were able to take my niece and nephew with us and had such a good time.  Sadly, the Tigers lost, but the experience and time with Amber and Baeley was fantastic.

May was a fun month.  I had the annual "Michigan, Our Michigan" play at school.  As always it was a great success.  The kids did a great job and all the teachers involved were very thankful when it was all over with.  May was also the month we found out that our little bundle of joy would be a little girl.  There had been much discussion about this, with most of our friends and family thinking we would have a boy.  The outcome really didn't matter to us, we were just thankful to find out that our baby was healthy and growing and doing very well.  My students also threw me a baby shower this month, which was a lot of fun.

June, July, and August were crazy busy months for us.  Jeremy worked and took classes at GRCC.  I worked in the school office and tutored a few students.  My parents also came to visit, as well as my sister Shannon and her husband Tom.  Shannon threw a wonderful baby shower for me and totally outdid herself with food and favors.

Truthfully, I don't remember much of September.  I know school started and I know that I was great with child.  Which is probably why I don't remember a lot.  I wasn't sleeping real well and when I was sleeping, the only place that was comfortable was the big, overstuffed chair in our living room.  

Then October came.  Along with it, came my due date, which also went away.  Thankfully, sweet Hannah didn't keep us waiting too long.  She made her dramatic appearance on October 14th, at 10:45am.

The remainder of October, and the months of November and December have been a general whirlwind for us.  We have become parents and a lot of changes have come along with that.  Much take-out has been eaten and much sleep has been lost, but we've made it.  We've kept each other sane, most of the time, and have fallen head-over-heels in love with our daughter.  I had 7 weeks off from work, which was a hard thing for me, as I'm not used to being home day after day.  It was also hard for me to not have any control over the happenings going on at school in my absence.  But, I wouldn't have given up those weeks at home with Hannah for anything.  It was a precious time for us to spend together and to get to know each other.

All in all, it's been a good year for us and we feel so blessed.  I have left a lot out...other family health problems and other family situations, but those things have passed and we've moved on.  We've grown closer together and have learned so much this year.  

I'm looking forward to what 2009 holds for us, especially how we will see Hannah grow and develop.  May all of you have a wonderful New Year!

Two Weeks and Counting

Well, we're only two weeks away from the almighty due date. It's hard to believe that we have finally arrived at this point. Back in February, when we realized we were pregnant, October seemed so very far away. Now, October seems almost frighteningly close.

Technically, we're ready. The crib is set up, the car seat has been installed in the car, we have clothes coming out of our ears, diapers are in place, our hospital bags have been packed, the house is relatively clean, and I have lesson plans figured out for, at least, the next two weeks.

Physically? I'm beyond ready to be done. I'm ready to lose my "waddle." I'm ready to not need to use the bathroom every time I take a sip of water. I can't wait to see my toes again. When it comes to sleeping, I can't wait to be able to roll onto my stomach.

Mentally? Well, we're as ready as we can be. I'm fairly certain that you are never truly ready, but we're getting there. We're certainly ready to meet this little girl and welcome her to our family.

It's our prayer that these last two weeks, or less, or more, go quickly and smoothly. We're praying for a safe (and maybe painless??) delivery. :) We're praying that God will enable us to be the kind of parents that we need to be. That He will give us the strength that we will need when life seems overwhelming.

I realize this is a rambling post, so I apologize for that, but my thoughts are all rambled these days. I hope you understand. :)

Learning to Breathe...

Jeremy and I just got home from our weekend childbirth class. Because of our schedules, we were unable to take a traditional five week long class. Instead, we took a class that was held for three and a half hours on Friday night and then six and a half hours today. Everything all in one weekend.

Well, the most important thing to note is that we survived. Neither one of us is feeling particularly overwhelmed right now, which I think is a positive sign. More importantly, we both made it through the class without strangling this one guy in our class who was totally obnoxious. Seriously, he's lucky to still be alive! :) Truthfully though, neither one of us was surprised to have an obnoxious person in class. Between the two of us, we've taken enough classes to keep our respective professional licenses valid, that we know with classes will come an obnoxious student or two.

I think it's safe to say that we have had our share of breathing practice and pushing practice and bathing a baby practice. Personally, I think a lot of the stuff that was covered was common sense, but at the same time, it was good to hear some of it as well. I think we both feel a little more secure and a little more ready. This is good since we only have about four weeks left...hopefully! :)

I'll leave you with this..."hee, hee, who."

Cauliflower

Throughout my pregnancy, I have been receiving weekly email updates from a couple of different websites. These websites exist to keep parents-to-be in the "know" about what is currently going on with the pregnancy. How the baby is developing, what to expect at the doctor's appointments, etc.

They also like to try and give you an idea of what your baby looks like. Each week and/or month, my growing child has been compared to some sort of food, usually something from the produce department. At first, this didn't seem strange to me. It was helpful and was a good visual for me. As I wandered through the grocery store, I would see a lemon and think to myself, "Ah, the baby is that big right now."

However, this week, when reading my weekly email, I was a little disturbed by the contents. Apparently at this point in the pregnancy (a little over 27 weeks) my baby girl, who is approximately 15 inches long and weighs a little over 2 pounds, is the same weight as a large head of cauliflower. Cauliflower? Really? That's the food we decided to go with? I absolutely despise cauliflower. How it looks, how it smells, how it tastes, everything about it I can't stand! And this is what my sweet baby girl is being compared to?


I am not okay with this! Today, when I am at the grocery story, I will find something else that weighs approximately 2 or 2 1/2 pounds and that is what I will compare my baby girl to. She will not be a head of cauliflower!!

Sugar High

I knew this day was coming. A month ago, at my last appointment, I had been sent home with a special drink. A drink I was to consume 45 minutes before today's appointment. I had heard horror stories about this drink, but was determined that I would be different. That this drink would not get the best of me. That surely, I would be the one to taste it and say, "Yum, that wasn't bad at all."

Yeah, not so much. It wouldn't be so bad if you could drink it on a full stomach. But combining the drink with a fast? That's just some sort of torture that should be kept for hard core felons, not women who are pregnant. It was one of the worst tasting drinks I've ever had. It was like a combination of that orange drink you get at McDonald's and about 8 extra cups of sugar.

Then, to top it off, you get to be poked by a needle and have blood taken from your body. Because you haven't done enough yet. I can only hope, that when they call tomorrow with the results, they will tell me I'm done. That the test for gestational diabetes came back fine and I'm good to go, because truthfully? I don't think I could down that stuff again. Let's all just keep our fingers crossed, k?

Panic

Those of you who know me, know that I like to be ready for anything. When it comes to teaching, I almost always over plan my lessons, ending up, at the end of the day, with activities to carry over to the next day. That's fine with me, as I'd rather have too much to do, than not enough.

When it comes to taking trips, again, I always make a list of anything and everything that I may need to have. Upset stomach? No problem, I remembered to bring Pepto-Bismol. Adding an extra day to the trip? No problem, I have extra clothes to spare.

However, with all of my extra preparedness for all aspects of my life, something tells me that I will never be fully prepared to be a parent. People keep telling me, "Don't worry, you'll do fine. You'll figure it all out as you go." I think they expect this to give me comfort, but it doesn't really. How can you be successful at something that you really aren't fully prepared for? Sure, you can buy all the necessary "stuff" and have a nursery full of clothes that the baby will probably only wear once before they outgrow them. You can take the childbirth class and read parenting books and ask others for advice. But you can't truly be fully prepared because parenting is different for every person.

Last night as I laid in bed, trying to fall asleep, this all hit me. How on earth are we going to pull this off? Are we ready? No! We're still learning to survive ourselves! Needless to say, a little bit of panic hit...okay, a lot of panic hit. What are we thinking? We aren't ready to be parents! We're still in need of our parents. We have to be responsible for another human life? Are you crazy??

Thankfully, I did the one thing that tends to calm me down. I started praying. I prayed for peace of mind. I prayed that God would continually remind me, however He chooses, that He will not give us more than we can handle. That I would always know that His grace is sufficient to help us navigate the curvy road of parenthood. I prayed that He would put people in our life to help us figure everything out.

Finally, I opened up my Bible and turned to Philippians. This is the book that we're studying with our small group currently. I read through chapter 3 and then when I got to chapter 4, I was reminded of this unwavering truth:

Philippians 4:6-7 (from The Message) - "Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life."

Feeling panic is perfectly natural and doesn't make you less of a person. What I realized last night is how you choose to handle that panic that makes the difference. I choose to let God be in control.

Amazing

It all started last Monday. Jeremy and I were waiting for the cable guy to finish hooking up our cable. We've always had cable, but in an effort to save money and better our package, we were changing to a different cable provider. The cable guy was downstairs fiddling around with wires and stuff, so Jeremy and I were hanging out upstairs, I was reading and Jeremy was messing around with Molly.

All of the sudden, there it was. There was no mistaking it, I had just been dealt a swift kick, a blow to my internal organs. I quickly called Jeremy over and he placed his hand on top of my stomach, patiently hoping she would move again. His waiting paid off and sure enough, he was treated to feeling his little girl make another swift kick. We both just grinned and of course there was a comment made about how she was just practicing her soccer moves.

It was, by far, one of the most amazing moments of my life. There was no mistaking it. She's there, she's moving, and come October, we'll get to meet this amazing little person. Since Monday, she has made moving around a regular part of my day. She was especially active in church on Sunday, which made it a little hard for me to focus. This is truly a time in our life that I hope we always remember.